


Somewhere Of Our Own

by lunargays



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Established Keith/Lance (Voltron), Established Relationship, M/M, Post-Canon, Resurrection, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-24
Updated: 2018-04-24
Packaged: 2019-04-27 10:49:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14423817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunargays/pseuds/lunargays
Summary: Falling in love was easy, but maintaining that love was harder than expected. Eight years down the road, Keith and Lance are 26, working full time and enjoying their completely healthy relationship. Yet, when points of view clash and their relationship begin to fall apart, the crash landing of an alien girl with strange markings and even stranger powers might be the last thing that can save them.





	1. [1] one

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first 'full' fic, and my first actual fic for Voltron, so excuse any out-of-character scenes, and any awkward dialogue and writing. This was written for the Klance Reverse Bang 2018, on Tumblr, for sadelionne (tumblr/instragram). It was beta'd by rileysweeto (tumblr/instragram/a03). Criticism is appreciated but please refrain from being too harsh, thank you! Also, sorry, it might seem a little rushed at the end because I was trying to get it all done before the time limit.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Keith and Lance's relationship begins to fall apart, and a strange bang leads to an even stranger visitor.

Lance didn't often get bored at work – who gets bored working at a school for astro-explorers? Yet here he was, trying to entertain himself with a rubber ball (and failing miserably). Lunch hour was boring as hell, most of the instructors at the Garrison remembered him from the years he actually attended, before he went 'AWOL'. The new instructors had formed their own 'clique', so to say, and the newbies stuck together. Lance was neither new nor old; Lance was lonely. So, he often sat in the cramped little office he had, where he marked student's papers or tried to make lesson plans for when his students weren't in the flight simulator.

When you were as lonely as he was, you found your own 'professional' ways to stay busy, which often including throwing his little, blue, rubber ball around the room. In space, he would have never been this bored, but Earth is different from space. A real adult job didn't have the same thrill as fighting an evil space empire every day.

He threw his ball towards the door, a metre-or-so away from his desk. As the ball bounced back into his hands the door opened – 'thank God they didn't walk in whilst I was messing around,' Lance thought as he scrambled to neaten himself up; professionalism in the workplace is fundamental, you know.

“You don't have to pretend you were working,” a familiar voice called out to him, followed by the dull thud of the door falling back into place. Keith. Lance rolled his eyes as his boyfriend moved to sit opposite him, putting down the small Tupperware container onto the crowded desk. “I know what you do during lunch,”

Lance didn't reply straight away, opting to pull to Tupperware container towards him – God, he was starving. “You aren't meant to be here, you know.”

“Yeah, I do.” Keith shrugged, leaning back in the uncomfortable, plastic seat. “But you forgot your lunch, and I couldn't let you go hungry... again.”

Lance hummed in response, pulling out an apple from the container and searching it with eagle eyes for a bruise – he hated apple bruises, they were gross and squidgy and ruined the whole fruit. “You know you can't come visit whenever,”

“Yes, I do know.” Keith's tone was agitated as he leaned forward, leaning on the desk. “But your husband is allowed to visit you, right?”

It took a few seconds to register what Keith said; Lance was too busy scanning the apple. In his defense, he didn't expect such an obscure remark for him. “Is this your awkward way of proposing? Because, honestly, I know you aren't super romantic but this is so sh-”

“What?” Keith seemed confused, his eyebrows furrowing and his expression growing defensive. “What – no, what the hell? It was a joke, Lance, you know, like... funny? Only spouses can visit at work, I lied to the receptionist.”

“Oh,” the reply was weak, barely audible. It might have been a rubbish marriage proposal but it was something nonetheless. Eight years and Keith still flinched at the idea of a permanent future. Lance was 100% sure (or at least 90%) that Keith didn't plan on breaking up with him in the near future, or at all; there was no reason for Keith's hesitance for a permanent relationship – you know, besides the whole being abandoned by his mother at an early age.

“You alright?” Keith asked, leaning over to reach for Lance's hand, barely brushing over the warm skin before his boyfriend drew his hand back with a certain disappointment. Lance was 'alright', in the sense that he was physically healthy, and happy most of the times. What was not alright, though, was Keith's refusal to even discuss marriage in a serious light – and, quite frankly, that pissed Lance off. He doesn't know why, but it did. And nothing is alright when Lance is pissed off.

When Lance is pissed off he just talks – unfiltered, angry, rambles.

“Yeah – I'm fine.” Loud and sarcastic – that's how it starts. “Just a bit annoyed, really.”

“The apple didn't have any bruises, I check-”

“It's not that!” The anger came in flooding waves, tall and mighty – a tsunami. “It's... You don't care about this relationship! Or not nearly as much as I do and, God, that is so frustrating! I try to make it permanent – marriage, engagement, promise rings – something, Keith, anything.” Lance's voice just kept growing in anger and volume and frustration; Keith was sure that everyone in the whole building could hear them. He didn't say anything – it was always best to let Lance shout through this.

“Really, you think it's alright to joke around and poke fun at it – guess what, samurai? It isn't funny. It hurts, knowing you think this relationship is going to end up as a joke; that's what marriage is to you, right?” Lance was wrong. Keith didn't tell him. “I give up. I don't want to try anymore – it's not like you care, right? No wonder everyone you know leaves -”

“That's enough!” Keith's voice cut through the air like a blade, sharp and quick and, most of all, painful. “That's enough Lance – just shut the fuck up. God, after all these years I thought you'd know me, at least slightly. And you wonder why I don't want to settle down with you? Because of this; you blindly accuse, point fingers and shout. Just – just, shut up. Leave me alone.”

If Lance was a tsunami, then Keith was fire – warm and inviting, yet dangerous. You don't play with fire without getting burnt.

…..

Marriage, in all honesty, wouldn't even be that much different; they already lived together. Why was Lance so hung up on it? He wasn't even sure that he particularly cared. Marriage was a big commitment, and Lance wasn't sure he was even ready. He was barely 26, just scraping the barrel with his teacher's wage – he never asked Keith for money. There were so many reasons for Keith's hesitance, and Lance agreed with him. They should wait.

They couldn't afford a wedding right now. It was expensive to throw Lance's ideal wedding – floral bouquets, a grand hall with hundreds of family members and friends, the nicest suits money could buy and of course, the after party. Everything would cost so much. And Lance knew that, and he didn't care about waiting. They would save up for it, in due time. Maybe the anger stemmed from Jenny from the coffee shop getting married (finally) or overhearing one of his coworkers had just recently got engaged after being with their partner (now-fiancé) for a little over five years. Maybe it stung a little, just a little, that after so many years marriage didn't seem anywhere in the near future. What stung more, however, was walking home in the burning cold with nothing but a thin jacket to keep him warm. God, he would do anything to be sitting on the leather seats of Keith's car, with the seat warmers on full blast – that sounded like bliss. But, of course, Lance had to ruin all of that with being petty – he was so stupid, this was the stupidest thing ever.

These thoughts occupied Lance's mind as he made his way home, how much of a failure he was. No wonder Keith didn't want to marry him, all he did was ruin everything. Everything – his relationship with Keith, with his coworkers, with his acquaintances, with his friends. When was the last time he even talked to Hunk? Ages ago – that's when. What he would do right now, just for a few words of Hunk's relationship advice. And a cupcake. Lance would kill for one of Hunk's cupcakes, too (but mostly the advice). It took Lance a solid hour to get home on foot – why did they live in the middle of nowhere? Curse Keith and his hate for urban areas, curse Lance for loving him so much that he'd follow him anywhere, even the desert. Lance was only thankful that Keith upgraded from his little desert shack to a slightly bigger house. Despite being alone with his thoughts, for a whole hour, Lance still had no idea on how to apologize to Keith. He had really messed everything up.

The lights were off in the house, nothing surprising. Keith didn't care about the darkness much, his Galra capabilities meant he could see pretty well in the dark, but that also meant he was mad. Of course he was mad – Lance had messed up, big time, and now he didn't how to fix it. God, he was such a fuck up. Why did he need to say anything to Keith? Why did he have to be so needy, so desperate? Why could he not just be content?

“Lance?” Keith's voice broke through Lance's thoughts, like an anchor cutting through sharp waves, dragging him down to steady him. Lance didn't know if he was happy or not.  
“I'm sorry.” Blunt words. He couldn't help it, Lance had to apologize before one of them began shouting again, he couldn't handle that. “I'm sorry. I messed up, really bad, like super.. like so bad, I'm sorry Keith, I didn't-”

“Lance,” Once again, Keith's words steadied him. This time he was grateful, like he always was. for Keith. “It's ok, calm down. I overreacted, you're fine, Lance. I, uh... do you want to sit down and talk about it? That's what we're meant to do, you know, talk to each other when we feel troubled.”

“Yeah, I get it Keith,”

“Well,” Keith's took Lance's hand in his, ice cold meeting warmth. Lance would never get tired of Keith's warm hands, despite his stubby fingers barely encasing Lance's hands – Lance wouldn't have it any other way. “Come on then,”

Keith led him into their living room – it wasn't extravagant, or big, or tidy, but it was home. At that moment, Lance realized that was all he had wanted. A home, with Keith – a forever home. He didn't realize that was what he already had, he didn't need a white, church wedding to validate that. How could he have said all that to Keith, when he didn't even truly want that? All he wanted was sitting with Keith on this torn up sofa, just talking.

“I'm sorry,”

“I know.”

“But I really thought we would have been married by now,” Lance mumbled, lying on his side with Keith on the sofa. How the two of them fit on it, lying down, was beyond either of them. “Eight years is a long time.”

“Well, we spent most of it in space, so that doesn't count.”

“Of course it counts!” Lance grinned, hand still tightly held in Keith's. “Voltron was, like, the best thing that ever happened to us.”

“Are you sure? I would have thought the best thing was me asking you out, you know, not fighting random Galra fleets.” Conversation with Keith was easy, nice and calm. He had changed a lot since they had first met. He wasn't the hot-headed, angry 'loner' of Voltron anymore; he was a warm-headed, less angry, non-loner. Lance was still an over-worrier, goofball, loverboy.

“Oh please, Galra fleets were the best things about space.”

They eased into friendly silence, and Lance began to close his eyes, listen to the steady drum of Keith's heart. He didn't expect them to talk more, Keith wasn't much of a talker.

“Babe?” The sudden voice was a surprise, Lance thought the conversation was over.

“Hmm?”

“I'm sorry, too.” Lance went to interrupt. Keith didn't let him, instead, he carried on talking. “I know how much you want a steady relationship, something confirmed. I'm sorry I can't give that to you. You were right, surprisingly..”

“Hey! Don't ruin the moment.”

“Right, sorry.” There was a heavy silence between them until Keith drew a long breath and began speaking again. “You were right. About my mum,”

“Keith -”

“No, let me finish.” His voice wavered as he spoke. “She left, and since then I haven't really been close to anyone. And then you come along, and... You're the most important thing in my life, I don't want to lose you. I didn't want you to, you know, leave if we got married. It's a hard thing to go through and I -”

“Keith, I understand.” Lance smiled, a reassuring half-smile. He was hurting at Keith's words, it was the best he could do. “You don't have to apologize, it's not your fault, honestly. I don't blame you, what I said was harsh and -”

There was a bang outside.

It was loud and violent. They hadn't heard such a noise since, well, since the Galra. That's what terrified them – the Galra was defeated, gone, vanquished, whatever the hell else. Keith shot up, in an instant, hand reaching for something to use as a defense. Lance sat in disbelief after everything was thought to be over how could this happen again? Why would it happen again? Like always, Lance sat there with millions of stupid thoughts in his head as Keith did something – this could end well, or in a disaster. Knowing Keith's reckless behavior, probably a disaster.

Keith had stood up, rushing around to find one of his swords. The one his eyes first landed on was the Blade of Marmora knife, that sat on top of the shoe cabinet despite Lance's multiple rants about how it's not safe – and it wasn't, but it came in useful for situations like this. Well, this was the first situation like this, in all honesty, but it was still useful. Keith's flight-or-fight response kicked in, and he decided he had to fight whatever made that ungodly crashing noise and prevent any more damage. It wasn't long before Keith was out the door, and out into the garden. He was dumbfounded – in front of him was an alien ship, nothing as elaborate as the Galra's though. It had crashed, quite violently, into the ground. Crawling out was a figure, clearly armed and most-likely dangerous. Before Keith realized what was happening, he was charging towards the figure at full speed.

Lance knew Keith would fight whoever, or whatever, the figure was. It was what Keith did - fight before thinking, even if it would have ended poorly. Lance was thankful that he had a gun in the house, for once. He vowed never to use it unless it was emergency, and an alien invasion counted as an emergency in his book. He held it tight, standing at the entrance of the house, watching as Keith ran with full force at the figure. He held it tight, hand sweaty – God, when was the last time he fired a gun? It had to be Voltron, just the thought of shooting a gun again sent traumatic waves through him. He didn't even know if he was a good shot anymore, not like he was before anyway. He didn't want to hit Keith, what if he hit Keith? But if he didn't fire Keith would definitely be hurt, by whoever this sudden crash-lander was. So he fired.

The gun was loud. Louder than he remembered – perhaps his bayard was quieter (sound doesn't travel in space). It rang loud in his ears and he involuntarily shut his eyes. He didn't want to know if Keith was hit, he prayed Keith wasn't hit. This was such a dumb decision, oh God, this was so stupid; why did he think he still knew how to aim? Now... he had messed it all up and -

“Lance!”

Keith's voice drew him out of his thoughts and his eyes snapped open. Keith was okay. The figure, however, was not. They lay in a crumpled pile on the floor. What had he done? Keith motioned for Lance to follow as he ran to the figure, and Lance did. He probably killed hundreds of Galra soldiers in his Voltron days, but this, he consciously murdered someone who might not have even been a threat. He ran to the figure, falling to his knees next to Keith, next to the corpse.

“Lance, they're alive..” Keith's voice was soft, hand taking Lance's in his own. Lance noticed the soft rise and fall of their chest, it was obvious now that the figure was a girl, quite a young one at that too, probably no older than eleven or twelve. Lance's hand skimmed over the dent in the helmet, from his bullet, and regret surged over him – he hurt a child. Keith murmured next to him, “They're ok, Lance, don't worry. Don't worry.” Lance nodded as he placed his hands on the cold metal of the helmet, and lifted it off.

The figure was a girl, and now it was official they were an alien too. The most shocking thing was that the girl was Altean.

…

 

There was a lot of arguing over what to do with the girl. Keith insisted on leaving the girl out there, who knew if she was dangerous or not. Lance, on the other hand, knew he couldn't leave a little girl out here alone – even if they were in the middle of nowhere. Modern times were a horrible place to live in for a young girl. Modern times were also a horrible place to live in for a young, gay couple. But probably worse for an unarmed child, compared to two armed, ex-soldiers.

She was still passed out a few hours later, it had just struck midnight and it was dark inside and out. The entire house was dark, except the living room where a 'garden by the sea' candle was lit – Keith insisted that it wasn't a real scent, Lance argued that Keith had never even seen the sea, so what did he know? They were arguing a lot since the girl's appearance, who knew a child could cause a relationship to collapse?

(Quite a few parents on Earth, but Lance and Keith didn't know that.)

Lance wanted the Altean girl to feel safe, unthreatened; if space was reverting back into something like the Galra Empire, she would be incredibly scared. That's why the house was dark: she had probably been in space for ages and wasn't used to loud sounds and being close to such bright lights. That's why they sat in the living room, whispering under their breaths. Hushed, angry whispers that were bordering onto the verge of shouts and screams. Keith and Lance rarely argued over a lot of things, they were similar people: very few things they actually had disagreed on. The last time they had argued so much was during their Voltron times, and that was over strategies and minor details, not their relationship.

Keith was insistent that they shouldn't leave the girl alone, who knew what threats she posed? Lance didn't want to scare her, he wanted to create a good impression – he knew what it was like to be alone and scared.

“I just think she should be watched, at least,” Keith began, voice growing annoyed. It was clear that Lance wasn't going to budge, but he was going to try and convince him anyway. “Who knows what she's doing in that room?”

“Keith, shut your mouth for once, how is a kid going to do anything you're saying?”

“I mean, you don't know what alien kids are going to be like. Have you ever met one?”

“I'm talking to one right now.”

“Oh!” Keith's anger flared up and he stood. “I know what I'm doing, Lance! Why don't you understand?!”

Lance huffed, there was no convincing Keith when he was like this (not that Lance wanted to convince Keith anymore, it would only escalate the situation). That meant they had to do their own separate things. Keith could bother the alien girl all he liked, but Lance was going to respect her privacy.

“Fine, you win. Go watch her like some supervillain – I'm going to go to bed, and talk to her, like a civilized person, in the morning.”  
Lance left.

Keith didn't want to face the alien girl alone – he wasn't scared of her, why would he (a paladin of Voltron) be scared of her (a little alien girl). No, if anything he didn't want her to be scared of him. Maybe he should have listened to Lance... He was the diplomatic one, he knew how to talk to aliens, he was friendly. But, he'd be damned if he'd let Lance think he had bested him. So he did what he said he would, and he went into the room the alien girl was sleeping in; it was a guest room with light blue walls, they had it reserved when Lance's family came over. It wasn't big in the slightest, in fact, it might have been smaller than average. It was quite homely, with a single window on the back wall, with heavy, deep purple curtains drawn over it. Keith always liked this room, it was quiet in there. The room was modeled after a child's bedroom (at least Keith thought so), but Lance said it reminded him of a room in one of the seaside hotels he visited as a child. There was solid, white wood furnishing.

The bed was the best thing about the room.

It was a house-warming gift from Lance's grandparents, which seemed unusual to Keith, but Lance said that grandparents always brought you big gifts like this. Keith wouldn't have known. When he felt troubled he often came into this room and just stared at the measly glow-in-the-dark stars stuck to the ceiling. It felt comforting, for some reason: it's not like space was a particularly comforting place for him, it was quite traumatic in fact, but he just felt at peace, with the small reminder of his childhood. However, right now, he didn't feel at peace.

In the middle of the room, atop of the bed, was the little alien girl. She didn't seem threatening, in all truth, but who knew? Maybe she was a product of the new Galra Empire. Keith didn't trust her. But, right now, with Lance's fluffy white blanket over her, she seemed peaceful – cute, even.

Keith would never tell Lance.

He sat in the beanbag in the corner, waiting for the girl to wake up. Lance didn't hit her hard enough to cause her to pass out for too long, it was only a small bullet anyways, and she did have a helmet on. She wouldn't be too badly hurt. Keith continued to watch her. He wanted to go, talk to Lance about how scared he was; what they would do if this girl was a real threat; if something did actually happen. But he couldn't. Lance didn't believe in his fears, and he refused to listen, to talk to him – and Keith didn't really have anyone else to talk to.

Except...

Keith reached into his sweatpants pockets, reaching for the cool metal of his phone. He didn't remember the last time he had a decent conversation with Shiro, that wasn't composed of small-talk. He scrolled through his contacts, trying to find the once familiar robot emoji and 'Shiro'. Keith wasn't sure how to start 'hey dude, there's some random alien girl in my house right now; she kind of resembles your girlfriend'. The only way to know what to say to Shiro was to just talk to him. Keith called Shiro. It took a few tries, but Keith was adamant to wake Shiro up for some advice. After around four calls, Shiro finally picked up.  
“Go to sleep.”

“Well hello to you too,” Keith jeered quietly, in response. “I've got an issue,”

“Oh? Well, try again in the morning; I'm busy sleeping, like you should be – hasn't Lance dragged you to bed yet?” Shiro sounded annoyed, but Keith knew he was worried under all the irritation.

“Well, we had an argument...”

“Keith!”

Keith flinched at the volume, frowning, “Shut up!”

“Sorry. Keith...! What happened?”

“It's not important,” Keith mumbled, nestling further back into the chair, with a pouty look on his face. “What is, though, is that there's a little girl in the house, and she looks oddly like your girlfriend.”

In the opposite corner of the house, Lance lay under the covers of their bed. Their room smelt like rosemary and coconut, an odd combination of Keith and Lance's respective shampoos. This was the first time he had laid alone in a long while, normally they would wake up together and go to sleep, their lives were absolutely in sync. Now, he had no one to share his day with, talk and gossip with. Lance felt lonely. But he was never truly alone, was he? He had friends, albeit sparse. Lance would always have one friend that would never leave him. Hunk.

He sat up, duvet falling into his lap as he reached for his phone on the nightstand. The clock on the stand blinked wearily, displaying 12:24 am. Would Hunk still be awake? Probably not – Hunk had always had a precise sleeping schedule ever since he was a child. But it couldn't hurt to try. So, without any hesitance, Lance called his best friend.

The phone rang a few times, the sound echoing in the room before cutting off. Of course, Hunk wouldn't answer – he was asleep. Lance was stupid to expect he would be awake, everyone had fully functioning lives and they weren't going to revolve around Lance. They wouldn't stay awake, wondering if Lance was going to call – of course not, they probably wouldn't have answered even if they were awake. Suddenly, his phone started vibrating in his hands – why was Hunk awake at this time? Lance decided not to question it and answered the call.

“Hey, Hunk,”

“Dude, why are you awake?”

What was Lance supposed to say? 'Oh, this alien girl crashed outside my house and I've had multiple arguments with my boyfriend and now I can't sleep at all, what about you?' No. That was a bad decision, Hunk would stress out and probably rush over immediately.

“Oh, I just had an argument with Keith... Nothing big -”

“Are you alright? What happened?” Hunk began bombarding with questions and Lance sighed, of course, Hunk would worry over that too; Lance was grateful.

“No, it wasn't anything serious, just... He doesn't understand sometimes – we have different opinions.”

“Lance, buddy,” Hunk began, his tone relaxing. “You love this man, don't ya?”

“Are you quoting Shrek?”

Hunk ignored him, “Do you wanna hold her?”  
Lance sighed. “Yes.”

“Please her?”

“Yes,”

“Then ya gotta, gotta try a little tenderness!” Hunk began singing, Lance giggled and relaxed.

“I swear Hunk, you get all your advice from films.”

“Touché, but it works, does it not?”

“Yeah, alright,”

Lance could practically feel Hunk smile over the phone, as he spoke in a soft tone. “Hey dude, I'll call you tomorrow, yeah? Maybe come visit, or something, but now you need some sleep.”

“Ok, goodnight Hunk.”

“Goodnight Lance, love you.”

Lance laughed, “Love you too.”

Hunk hung up and, once again, Lance was alone.


	2. [2] two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the strange visitor speaks and reveals new powers, and there's a bonding moment somewhere in there.

Both Keith and Lance fell asleep alone that night, both worried about separate things.

Lance still didn't know what to do with the alien girl, who were they going to tell? At least it was the weekend and he didn't have to take a day off work, that was helpful. Perhaps it was time for a Voltron reunion. But, right now, it was time for breakfast. Lance stood, not bothering to fix the bed, and pulled on a nightgown over his pajamas, and his slippers. The time was 5 am, and Keith would probably be awake too. Before they began living together, Lance would wake up much later, at around 11 am, but Keith would always make an unnecessary amount of noise when waking up and that conditioned Lance to wake up earlier too. Today, however, was a not a day he wanted to be up early – it just meant having to deal with Keith's bullshit earlier than necessary.

He moved into the kitchen, after brushing his teeth and washing his face – skin care is important even in problematic times – but he didn't have enough willpower to have a shower, he had other things to think about, most importantly breakfast; he hadn't eaten since yesterday's lunch. Right now, he really craved Keith's pancakes but no way was he going to lose the silence battle in order to get some breakfast food; Lance was not weak. So, he settled for cereal – cereal first, then milk, the right way to do it. He'd had multiple arguments with Keith on the correct order of making cereal, since Keith decided cereal sins were the right way to do it.

Lance sat at the table, eating his cereal and for the first time he felt lonely during breakfast – he was desperate to call Keith to breakfast. It was as if someone had heard his wish, and Keith walked into the kitchen and took a yogurt out of the fridge before sitting next to Lance. There was an awkward silence at first, each of them waiting for the other to talk. It wasn't long before Keith cracked,

“I'm sorry.”

Lance was surprised to hear Keith apologize, normally Keith would have waited days for Lance to apologize first, or until he cracked under the loneliness. Keith didn't get lonely often and could go days without talking to Lance. This was... strange.

“You were right, she's not a threat – she's been passed out since we found her. She's just a kid.”

Lance ate his cereal, looking over to Keith and he smiled. That smile was all Keith needed to know that everything was alright. “We'll go talk to her when she's awake, yeah? She might still be dangerous, you know.”

Keith pouted and Lance giggled, and they ate together, in comfortable silence, just like they should.

It hadn't even been half an hour before a crash came from the direction of the girl's room. Both of the paladins rose from the seats, disregarding their empty breakfast tableware and rushing to the room. Lance immediately saw one of the candles on the floor, the glass had broken from the impact. The melted wax, from when it was burning, had spilled and was flowing into the gaps of the floorboards. Lance's heart clenched and he cried out, meanwhile, Keith's eyes immediately went to the bed – which was now lying empty. Then, his eyes rose up to a small, fluffy bat-like creature, which was flapping its wings in a feeble attempt to rise more than two feet above the bed. Strangely, it seemed to be glitching, as if it was a visual projection that was being disturbed. It had markings on its face, not unlike the markings on the girl...

A shapeshifter.

Keith finally realized what was happening and reached up to grab the bat, hopping on top of the bed. It wasn't hard to grab it in his hands, but as it beat its wings Keith felt a strange burning sensation in his hands, but he wouldn't let go. He stumbled back off the bed and suddenly he was falling. Bracing himself for the fall, Keith shut his eyes but the fall never came – instead he had been caught, he had fallen straight into Lance's arms.

“Now who's cradling who in whose arms, huh?”

“Oh sh-”

There was a surge of heat in Keith's hands, and the alien began to change, growing at an incredible rate. Lance stumbled back as the weight above him increased, as if another body had been leaning against him. When he looked up there was, in fact, another body – the alien girl had re-appeared, and she was struggling fiercely against Keith's grip on her. She managed to stand and stagger away from them, her eyes frantic and scared as she stared at the couple on the floor, her chest heaving from fear.

“Where am I?” Her voice was small and soft, clearly childlike and feminine.

Keith went to stand and talk to the girl, his face set into an angry expression but Lance stood up before him and gave him a look, as if to say 'let me handle this'.

“You're on Earth,” he began, as the girl's expression softened. “Do you know where that is?”

For a second, she seemed unresponsive before nodding.

“Do you know how you got here?”

“Ship,” she mumbled... “Escaping.” It was clear she wanted no more to do with Keith and Lance, desperate to find an exit. Her eyes trained on the window.

“We won't hurt you,” Keith spoke, finally, his voice taking on a loud, yet sincere tone. He never was the diplomatic type, yet (for once) he seemed to understand why he had to calm.

“Yeah, we won't hurt you – we need to know why you're here, though. We can help you.”

“Have you heard of Voltron?”

For a second, the girl seemed contemplative before nodding, a sense of confusion present on her face.  
“Well,” Lance began, lifting a foot to step closer to the girl; when she flinched he moved back again, and she seemed to relax again. “We're two of the paladins.”

“Blue and red,”

The girl shook her head, “No... Voltron has lions, you don't have lions.”

“We don't need them,” Keith began, his voice soft, as if trying to coax an escaped animal back into its cage, “Nobody needs protecting anymore.”

“We needed Voltron.”

Lance's heart fell, as tears began forming in the girl's eyes, clear there was a sea of bad memories flooding in her head, she didn't pay attention as Lance moved closer to her, a hand on her shoulder. She didn't seem to flinch away, consumed by her grief.

“We'll help you now.”

…..

It had been a week, or so, since the girl had crashed outside their house. Both Keith and Lance had taken the week off to try and get to know the girl better, try and form a sense of trust and belonging. Keith had canceled Shiro visiting, told him that the girl wouldn't be ready to see more people just yet – she was sad and angry, feelings he knew all too well. In that week, a significant amount had happened.

The girl, they had found out, was called Zefkalria. Lance insisted on calling her 'Zef', and by her smile, she didn't seem to mind. It took her a day to leave the room, and a week to be confident enough to step out into the garden, worriedly looking up at the sky every time. Since then, however, she never seemed to leave the garden, admiring Lance's flowers and the little pond at the end of the garden. Zef seemed fascinated by the flora and fauna of the garden, as if she had never seen such things before. She didn't seem to talk to Keith and Lance much, but she didn't mind them being near her anymore.

Lance had to return to work, so it was just Keith and Zef. Neither of them wanted to talk to each other and often stayed in different rooms. It was a nice day, the sky was a clear blue and there was only a slight breeze. Keith sat at a garden table, paper sprawled out in front of him, planning out the blueprints for a motorbike he wanted to build eventually. He paid no attention to Zef, who was sitting in the shade of an old oak tree, which had been there since before Lance and Keith had brought the house. It was a quiet day, and Keith appreciated that.

A scream rang out in the garden and Keith shot up, it was loud and clearly frightened. He turned towards Zef, fear on his face – he didn't expect to see the girl cowering in the presence of a little, blue bird. The bird chirped happily up at Zef, who was trying to hide in the tree waving a stick around as if it was a sword. Keith couldn't contain his laughter, moving towards Zef and the bird. He waved off the bird, who hopped twice and flew off.

Zef seemed frightened still, looking down at the spot where the bird had once stood. Keith spoke up, gaining Zef's attention. “It was just a bird, calm down,”

Zef pouted, mumbling towards the ground, “Could've been dangerous...”

“Well,” Keith began, standing straight, “If it was dangerous, do you think you would have been able to defend yourself with a twig?”

Zef looked up at Keith, then down at the stick and throwing it to the floor. “I can only shift to protect myself – never been taught anything else.”

Keith regretted imposing the 'no shapeshifting' rule. When Zef had grown slightly more comfortable in the house, Keith insisted on the rule, claiming that the alien girl could still be a threat. Lance groaned but reluctantly agreed. Of course, he was much more at ease now, but he hadn't lifted the rule yet. What if someone saw her shapeshifting and called the Garrison? Who knew what type of tests they would do on Zef – they wanted to experiment on Shiro when he only had an alien arm, what would they do to a full alien girl?

Whilst Keith was consumed in his thoughts, Zef spoke up and distracted him. “Could you.. teach me?” Her voice was soft and hesitant, clear she was afraid to ask.

“Oh.. uh,”

“You told me the paladins of Voltron had bayards – you and Lance had swords! You were the best swordsman in the universe, please Keith,”

Zef hardly called Keith by his name – it was clear she wasn't trusting of him either. She mostly talked to Lance, who was caring and gentle with her.

“Uhm,” Zef's eyes grew, clearly giving a pleading expression, “Sure, why not?”

Zef practically lit up, standing straight and grinning. She had a childlike desire to learn, which made sense, given that she was a child.

“Right, so” Keith began, hesitant as he stepped away from the tree, Zef following so they were both standing in the center of the garden. “I'm only going to teach you the basics, since it's complicated and you don't really need to know,

“It's alright, it'll be a last resort – I can.. what do you call it?”

“Shapeshift?”

“Yeah!” Zef seemed overly enthusiastic, something she never was around Keith – it was as if she feared him at times. But right now, it seemed as if she felt safe, prepared to let Keith teach her the art of sword fighting.

“So you need to keep your stance wide,” Keith began, moving his feet apart and watching Zef mimicking his steps. “But not too wide, or you'll be off balance, you'll fall if someone locks swords.” Zef didn't reply, concentrated on following his instructions. Keith couldn't help but feel pride swell in his chest.

He didn't realize how long they had been out there, but the sun was setting by the time Lance came home. Keith didn't even realize that Lance was standing, watching from the garden door. It wasn't until Zef began to tire out that Keith noticed Lance was smiling from the door. Zef sat beneath the tree, and Keith walked towards his boyfriend who was grinning like a child.

“How long you been watching, perv?”

“Long enough to remember how good your ass looks when training,” Lance smirked, leaning in to kiss Keith. Keith stepped away, leaving Lance pouting.

“I was teaching Zef how to sword fight,” Keith began, leaning against the wall and tossing the tree branch to the floor.

“Can't she shapeshift?”

“You said she can't shapeshift in the house,”

“Actually you said -”

Keith didn't let Lance finish, “Anyways, she tried to attack a little bird and she wanted me to teach her how to defend herself so I did,”

“Wow,” Lance said, watching Zef from afar. The little girl was beginning to doze off in the shade. “Was she any good?”

“She's getting there, better than when she started,”

“Getting better every day.”

…..

Another week or so had come and gone, and now most of the days Zef was alone whilst Keith and Lance went to work – she napped and ate and watched cartoon reruns all day, normal for a little girl. Eventually, they had to tell someone about her, and Keith couldn't prolong Shiro's visit anymore, and with Shiro's visit came a certain space princess and the entirety of Team Voltron.

It was a drowsy Sunday afternoon, and Zef was sitting on the floor watching Spongebob. Keith was trying to follow along, but quickly got bored, and Lance was too anxious about the 'Voltron Visit' to enjoy the simple entertainment of the cartoon. It was evident that over the past few weeks Lance had grown attached to Zef, and if Allura decided to take the little alien girl away it would be as if Lance had lost a piece of himself, as cliché as it sounds.

The clock had just gone half past 4 when the sharp ringing of the doorbell filled the air. Zef's head snapped around whilst Keith stood to go answer the door, leaving Lance to explain to the alien girl who was visiting, and more importantly why – and perhaps some safety measures – don't touch Shiro's arm if you can help it, he can electrocute you if he wants. Zef wanted to leave, but everyone was coming to meet her and Lance insisted that it'd be fine (Zef thought otherwise).

Keith reentered the room, followed by Shiro, Allura, Hunk, and Pidge. Zef seemed surprised by the height of everyone, she barely grazed Pidge's shoulder – and Pidge was short. Zef and Lance stood to greet the Team, Zef trying her hardest to hide behind Lance who, instead, just pushed her further forwards.

Keith began to speak, “Zef, this is Hunk, Pidge, Shiro and -”

“Allura, a pleasure to meet you, Zef.” Allura interrupted smiling down at Zef. The girl looked up at Allura in fascination, subconsciously reaching up to touch her own red, Altean markings. Lance had been mumbling the lion's colours to Zef as Keith introduced the team, and when Zef looked up at him in confusion at Allura's introduction, he spoke with ease.

“Allura's one of the last living Alteans, alongside her advisor Coran – speaking of Coran, where is he?”

“He's on some space mission,” Allura said, looking to Lance with a shrug. “Couldn't make it in time,”

“That sucks,”

The team began sitting down, Zef on the floor again, with Lance next to her, Keith, Shiro, Allura on the sofa and Pidge on the recliner. Keith began explaining everything about Zef, how they found her, what she was like, what they've done these past few weeks, Allura kept demanding more details. Finally, Keith had managed to exhaust Allura of all questions, whilst everyone else kept quiet. It was clear that Allura was in shock – how could there be another Altean, after all this time? She wanted to know everything.

The room was in a state of awkward silence, everyone in awe of the alien girl in front of them, who was leaning into Lance's side. Zef hadn't spoken the whole time the team was there, and when everyone went silence she spoke.

“Can shapeshift too.” Keith had managed to keep that convenient detail hidden, but Zef told the whole team.

“Oh, Zef,” Allura began, smiling with an 'I know' look on her faces that teachers often gave students. “All Alteans can do that.”

Zef's eyebrows furrowed, as if she didn't believe the Princess. “No,”

Allura seemed surprised at the answer, “Of course we can.” Her eyes shut and her body began to shift, until she was the same height as Pidge, or thereabout, and her skin was a pastel pink. Zef began to giggle. She shut her eyes and her whole body began to change, her bones seemed to shrink and her features changed until she resembled a creature that the team recognized as an Arusian. Allura's eyes widened in disbelief, as did the entire team. Hunk had moved over to Pidge's recliner, and they were whispering frantically between themselves.

Lance nudged Zef, whispering to her to go upstairs, fearful of what Allura might ask Zef to do next – he knew shapeshifting took a lot of energy, and it was both physically and emotionally exhausting. Zef didn't need a second nudge and she shifted back into an Altean, standing and rushing up to the guest room where she had set up residence. Allura rose to go after her but sat down after Shiro put an arm on her shoulder.

“Why didn't you tell us?” Lance focused back on Allura, whose expression had changed from disbelief to anger. He knew he was going to get a strict talking to. “Lance – do you know how strange that is? No species has that ability – and I'm not exaggerating.”

Lance didn't reply, so Allura turned her attention to Keith who seemed to be growing agitated. Before Allura could even open her mouth, the red paladin began to speak, his tone aggressive despite his best intentions to be diplomatic. “We knew you would react like this – shocked, disbelief. She's a child, Allura, she doesn't need to be provoked and prodded about powers that have no definite origin. Honestly -”

“Keith,” Lance interrupted, standing up and giving Keith a look that said to stop. Keith instantly went silent, folding his arms with a 'hmph'. “I think you guys should set up camp, and then we can have dinner. Pidge, Hunk, you can stay in the guest room with me and Zef. Shiro, Allura you can be in our room with Keith.” He glanced over to Keith, as if to say 'don't start anything', but his boyfriend seemed to take notice. The team began to scatter, moving up to their respective rooms; it wasn't the first time they had a 'Voltron sleepover', so everyone knew the drill.

Lance arrived in the guest room before Pidge and Hunk, looking to Zef who was standing near the window, looking at the setting sun. The remainder of the Garrison trio stood at the door as Lance talked to Zef, standing next to her at the window.

“Pretty, huh?” Lance began, looking at the scarlet and golden hues; Zef didn't reply but nodded. “Hey Zef, don't mind Allura. For a long time she thought she was one of the last Alteans, and now she knows there are more; she doesn't feel alone anymore.”

“Being alone is really sad,” Zef said, mumbling to herself. Her eyes never moved away from the sunset, in complete admiration. “I would know,”

Lance didn't press on further, knowing Zef was uncomfortable with discussing her past. “You're alright with everyone else though, right?” Lance received a nod in response. “So you wouldn't mind if Hunk, Pidge and I spent the night in here?”

Zef's face fell, she was uncomfortable with strangers. Lance immediately noticed and gave her a slight smile, “It won't be bad, it'll be fun.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

…..

An hour later, the team sat around Lance and Keith's tiny dinner table, two take away pizzas on the table with Keith's normal order of buffalo wings. Zef sat between the red and blue paladins, picking at the cheese on her pizza, clearly not in the mood to eat. The team talked amongst themselves, Lance, Hunk, and Allura arguing about the pizza, whilst Shiro and Pidge conversed about who knows what; Keith and Zef, however, sat in silence, busy fussing over the own individual meals.

Zef looked up to Keith and spoke in a slight mumble, “Don't like it,”

“The pizza?” Keith inquired, head instantly turning to the alien girl on his left. “You can have some of my wings if you like, I don't mind.”

“No,” Zef turned away, looking back to the pizza that had a pool of grease forming on the top. “The noise.”

Keith's eyes widened in realization, this was the first time that Zef had been around so many people since... well, since she landed on Earth. It was always just him and Lance around her, and who knows what before that. She seemed to be fidgety, desperate to leave the dining table. Keith didn't let her behavior go unnoticed, resting a hand on her shoulder and smiling to give her a boost of confidence – she began to relax, knowing that Keith would get her out.

“Hey, guys,” everyone's attention turned to Keith, “Zef and I are going to get some air, enjoy your meals.”

Zef didn't need to be told to get up, and Keith followed her, leading them both to the garden. Instantly, Zef went to the tree, sitting underneath it with her knees up to her chest. Keith moved to sit next to her, looking up at the stars whilst Zef seemed to look anywhere but. Keith was content just sitting in silence, in fact, he enjoyed it, and he didn't really expect Zef to say anything, she was also the sit-in-silence type. So, when Zef began to talk to him to say he was surprised was an understatement.

“It was noisy at the arena, too,” she began, looking at the grass which danced in the light wind.

“The arena?” Keith inquired, not wanting to pressure her into talking but it was the first time she was opening up about her elusive past.

“Yeah,” Zef's eyes seemed glassy as she thought about the 'arena'. “Wasn't nice, they made me fight people, kill people. There was a lot of us, but they made me fight because I was the best, shifting into the most types.”

Keith managed to figure out that 'us' was referring to other Alteans, all of who could shapeshift into different alien species. He remained silent, waiting for Zef to finish.

“Scary – they were planning to do something... I don't know, they didn't tell me.”

“Hey, Zef?”

“Yeah?”

“It'll be alright.”

…..

As soon as Zef was asleep, Keith told the rest of the team what the alien girl had told him in the garden. Shiro had some unpleasant memories brought up, from his days in the Galra arena – if the arena Zef was talking about was anything similar to the arena Shiro was forced to fight in, well, no wonder she didn't want to talk about it. At first, no one in the team knew what to do, even Allura who had faced more intergalactic horrors than any of them. It was actually Hunk who spoke up, planting an idea in their heads.

“Well, we can't let this go on, can we? You know, as paladins of Voltron – it's our duty to help others who have been forced to fight,”

“But it's been ages since we piloted the lions,” Pidge pointed out, “We don't even know if we have the same connection with them.”

“We have to do something!” Keith's anger flared, who knows how many other children were out there, fighting to stay alive. “We have to help them.”

“Guess there's only one thing to do, then,” Shiro began, “form Voltron.”


	3. [3] three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which there is a resolution to the story, and in the end, there is a new beginning.

As luck may have it, the paladins were still bonded with their lions. It was as if the lions still trusted the paladins, knew that they would only use the power of Voltron to help defend the universe, not destroy it. Thankfully, the team didn't have to bond with each other again either, since the only rivalry (between Keith and Lance) had long since ended.

Zef was in awe, amazed to even be allowed to look at the lion, let alone stand in the cockpit of Blue alongside Lance, who was showing her the entire inside and workings of the lion. “Maybe one day you'll be a paladin of Voltron too, that is if the universe still needs it.”

“The universe will always need help, somewhere,” Zef mumbled, fascinated by the controls and how comfortable the seat was.

Lance leaned against the seat, looking out the window to the hangar where the lions had been parked for the last eight years. It was dark in the hangar, and Lance could briefly make out cobwebs forming in the corners; clearly, no one had cleaned up the Castle of Lions since the repairs after the Final Battle. Lance made it his own personal mission that once they had found the people who were running these intergalactic arenas, he would clean up Blue's hangar and make it nicer– just like she deserved. Zef eventually stood up and she and Lance left the hangar to go up to the piloting area, with the rest of the team.

Once in the central piloting area, they stood in front of Allura, each of the paladins wearing their armor. Lance couldn't help but sneak glances at Keith, who looked so different with his hair cut, and his signature mullet gone. Yet, there was a familiarity in him, something that made Lance want to curl up in the castle bed and mumble about the stars, like they did eight years ago. He could barely keep his focus on what Allura and Coran were saying. Keith, also, had trouble keeping his eyes off of Lance, and how well the armor fitted him, defining every one of his assets, including his -

“Keith! Are you even listening?” Allura snapped at him and his head bolted up, he managed to catch Lance winking out of the corner of his eyes, a sly grin on his face.

“Uh, no... Sorry, Allura.” He could feel his face beginning to heat up to match the colour of his suit.

“We’ve found out that the aliens, that forced Zefkalria to fight, only run a few rings, close together - it won’t be too hard to wipe them all out,” Coran said, and the way he pronounced Zef’s name with ease caused a pang in Keith and Lance’s hearts, they’d never be the family she deserved - if she even wanted to stay with them after the freed everyone.

“But we still don’t know what they were planning to do with Zef,” Hunk pointed out.

“I’m sure they’ll have plans ready on computers that we can find - hopefully, it’s nothing too gruesome,” Shiro spoke, keeping a calm demeanor. They all knew that it would be ‘too gruesome’, people who made children fight in arenas could do anything. The team stood in silence, thinking about the horrors that they'd find in the rings, it took Coran's voice to fill the void of sound.

“If my calculations are correct, we should arrive at the cluster of arenas in, about, four vargas since we can't wormhole so close to your Earth's atmosphere -”

Lance stopped listening as soon as Coran got technical and instead, he looked down at the girl who stood between him and Keith. He'd come to think of Zef apart of his family, albeit a strange, half-human, half-alien family, but a family nonetheless. It was his first shot at his own family, with Keith, and they'd been happy together – all three of them – who knew when he'd get this chance again? It wasn't as if Keith was trying to start a family anytime soon, but he couldn't restrict Zef, he couldn't pull her away from her own family that was probably out there.

Consumed by his thoughts, Lance didn't even realize that Allura and Coran had dismissed them, until Zef tugged at his hand and Keith looked at him with expectant eyes.

“Everyone's going to train, you coming?” Keith spoke, his voice worried – how did he know something was bugging Lance?

“Uh,” he looked away and Keith motioned for Zef to follow the team, to which she reluctantly agreed. Keith stepped closer, brushing a stay hair away from Lance’s forehead.

“What’s wrong?”

Lance felt ready to collapse. “I’m going to miss her,” he mumbled, “Zef - no doubt she’ll want to leave us, return to her family and -” he paused, not wanting to start another argument. He only continued after Keith pressed a kiss to his cheek, alongside providing a reassuring smile. “This was my only shot at a family, Lord knows you aren’t ready to settle down and… I’m not ready to let that go -”

“Lance,” Keith interrupted, interlocking their fingers. “When we get back to Earth I promise I will marry you, if you let me?”

“Is that your way of proposing?”

“Will you say yes?”

Lance laughed, feeling light inside. His only dream was coming true, “Then I will let you - let's get married.”

“It’s a date.”

The Castle of Lions was 'parked' a short while away from the rings, far enough to be undetected but close enough to be able to intervene if anything went wrong. Zef was sitting in the back of Blue; at first, the team was hesitant to bring her, but her argument that she knew the inside of the arena better than any of them, plus she had powers too and she could fight – she wasn't as weak as she seemed. The plan was to fly in, Hunk and Pidge would try to find the computers and hack into them to find the plans for Zef, whilst Shiro evacuated the prisoners safely, and Keith and Lance were meant to keep the aliens in control of the arena away from the rest of the team.

The lions were flying above the atmosphere of the arenas, which seemed to be suspended in mid-air. Pidge had the cloaking on the green lion on, before hovering down close to the glass-top arena, which was (thankfully) empty. She mumbled a signal, and the rest of the lions flew down, hovering above the roof. The building had two areas that split off from the main arena, one that seemed much more heavily fortified than the other pathway. Coran had told them that this was where the prisons were kept, and the other side was full of computers and plans for fights and, more importantly, Zef. The lions landed atop of their respective areas, shaking the building beneath them. Aliens began pouring out of both sides, confused for a moment before noticing the blue and red paladins lowering themselves into the arena, alongside a too familiar alien girl.

They didn't have time to speak, immediately beginning to be ambushed. The paladins drew their bayards, whilst Zef brandished an Altean broadsword, given to her by Allura – it was hers when she was younger, fit for a young Altean warrior. At first, the trio managed to easily wipe out the first four aliens. However, it was clear that they had abandoned their posts in the building, as a larger, more equipped second wave approached.

“There's no one here,” Pidge spoke over their coms, confirming Lance's suspicions. He converted, channeling his energy into shifting the sword in his hand into a gun, shooting the enemy pouring out from the entrances. From the corner of his eyes, he managed to make out Keith drawing his Marmora blade, dual-wielding – god, he was so hot. The blue paladin didn't get a chance to keep focusing on his boyfriend, as he was being attacked by more aliens.

Keith, however, had one eye on the enemy in front of him, and one eye on Zef who was transforming into a larger, reptilian creature – he recognized it as the creature that had attacked Shiro years ago, when they had been thrown into a barren wasteland. He couldn’t deny the feeling of fear that nestled into his stomach.

“I’ve loaded all the prisoners into the black lion,” Shiro spoke over the coms, Keith couldn’t bring himself to reply, not wanting to distract himself.

Lance heard Hunk shout over the communication system, “Weblum!” There was a silence throughout the team, and Allura mumbled for more.

“They were going to brainwash Zef and force her to shift into a Weblum,” Pidge explained, Lance couldn’t focus. He knew how much energy it took for Zef to shapeshift into small creatures, it would kill her to shift into a Weblum.

“What the fu-” Keith heard Lance begin to curse, his sentence cut short; he wanted it to be because Lance didn’t want to swear in front Zef, but a sinking feeling in his gut knew that wasn’t the case. It wasn’t until Zef let out a blood-curdling scream that he turned around; Zef had mauled the remaining aliens, leaving a mess of blood and limbs, as well as the few Lance had shot and slashed. Between the bodies, however, lay the crumpled body of the blue paladin with a bullet wound deep in his chest. 

Keith could hear the team’s worried voices at Lance’s cut off sentence and Zef’s scream, but they wouldn’t register in his mind - his only thought was to drop down at Lance’s side and die with him. He didn’t realize that tears were cascading down his cheeks until he could taste the salt in them, and he didn’t realize that he had fallen to his knees beside Lance until his knees began to burn from the friction. Hands clasping on Lance’s shoulder, Keith shook his fiancé, desperate for some response. Something deep inside him seemed to wither away, leaving a harsh numbness in his chest. 

“We’re going to get married,” he rambled, unwilling to let Lance leave. “Have a big wedding, with your parents and your brothers and sisters and cousins, and your Abuela will fly in from Cuba and- and…” he couldn’t continue.

Lance was gone.

It seemed unreal, and for a brief second Keith thought that it was. The sound of Zef’s sobs was the thing that seemed to finalize it, her shaking hands paired with an even shakier voice. She reached forwards, covering Lance’s wounds with her hands, 

“D-dad…”

The one word led another wave of emotions to flow over Keith and he pulled Zef into his arms, wanting to take away her grief. She didn’t deserve this. Lance didn’t deserve this. He shut his eyes, willing it to be over, for some omniscient presence to take away his life just like they did Lance’s. He only opened them again when a sharp glow began to form around Lance’s wound, around Zef’s hands. Loss shifting to disbelief instantly, Keith found it impossible to believe what he saw. 

Zef was healing Lance.

It was an exaggerated version of what Allura did with the Balmera, healing it with Altean energy. Keith could hear a humming noise fill the air, above the shouts of his teammates, above his own ragged breathing. Zef’s hands steadied and she concentrated, and then Keith caught a glimpse of Lance’s once torn skin begin to heal. The humming noise was filling with a beat, an amplified version of Lance’s heartbeat - tears began to fall again. Zef had really healed him, she was a miracle worker. Lance’s eyes fluttered open and Keith couldn’t help but dive down to kiss him; it wasn’t the best kiss, sweat and the copper taste of blood lingered on their lips but it was full of life and joy. Keith felt as if he could overdose on the euphoria. Lance sat up, a slight grin on his face despite the wince that left his mouth.

“What did I miss?”

Keith kissed him again.

…..

The most important kiss in Keith and Lance’s relationship was the one after Lance was resurrected from the dead, but the kiss to seal their wedding vows made a close second. 

Lance didn’t let Keith back away from his promise, not that Keith wanted to; after all that happened in space, Keith couldn’t risk losing his then-fiancé, now-husband, again. They had spent a grand total of two months planning their wedding, rushing to just get it done and over with - they had a child for God’s sake. Speaking of children, Zef had revealed that she had no other family, not before McClain-Kogane’s adopted her, as soon as they landed back on Earth. Of course, no one knew she was an alien and no one would know - she shifted to hide her ears and markings when out the house, only turning back when hidden inside the house. When the world was more accepting, she would be able to be a full-time Altean. Until then, they had to make sacrifices to be a family.

Family. The world had never been foreign to Lance, having grown up in a large household. Yet, there was a different meaning to the word when it referred to his own family, the two people that meant the most to him, despite all three of their broken parts. Keith had never had a real family, unless you counted his absent, alien mother and even more absent father. This was his first real chance to love someone, show them how much it meant to be able to love people that loved him back, equally. Zef, of course, did have a family, once upon a time. Yet, they were separated and she knew, deep down, that they would never be back. Circumstance meant their paths collided and they were happy: truly, genuinely, happy. 

The day of the wedding was simple, getting married in the early afternoon before leaving for the reception to meet with Lance’s extended family, which was a mission worthy of Voltron - there were at least twenty cousins on each side, as well as aunts and uncles Lance had never mentioned (Keith was sure that some of them weren’t even related by blood). Most of them left by late afternoon, leaving only close relatives and the team behind. 

Lance and Keith sat at a long table at the head of the hall, Shiro and Allura on Keith’s side, and Hunk, Pidge and Lance’s parents on the other. Zef sat between them, flowers in her hair. She had been the honorary flower girl at their wedding, wearing a dress that matched her markings, which were showing. Everyone was told that it was a new trend, and even Allura was sporting hers. The day began to draw to a close, and everyone was busy in their own conversations, letting the McClain-Kogane family have a few peaceful moments to themselves.

“Good day?” Keith asked, looking down at his daughter.

Zef nodded, a wide grin on her face. “Good day.”

Keith looked up to Lance, “As good as you imagined?”

Lance smiled, leaning across Zef’s chair, which was situated between them. He kissed Keith quickly, the first kiss after the newlywed kiss, but it definitely wasn’t the last of the day.

“Even better.”


End file.
